Flash sync issue

[Asahizuiko]

I recently got myself an R-D1, and I love it so far. I've owned a Zeiss Ikon ZM, Minolta CLE and Leica M3 for a few years, but this is my first digital rangefinder.

My copy is definitely a user, a bit banged up but seems to work okay with the exception of one issue that I discovered whilst shooting in the studio last week. I was using studio flash with a wireless trigger on the hotshoe, and it just didn't seem to sync flash at all, even at shutter speeds lower than 1/125. I even tried it at speeds as low as 1/8 and it wouldn't sync. It seemed to be triggering the flash after the shutter closes. I know that the trigger works correctly with other cameras.

Weirdly, when I tried the pc sync socket that worked fine. I'm glad I have a way to use flash with my R-D1 via the pc sync, but I'd still like to solve the hotshoe issue.

The answer I'm sure is, as ever, send it to a decent repair tech. Never-the-less, I'd like to ask you lot whether you've heard of similar issues, whether you know if there's a simple fix or whether I'm maybe missing something obvious and making a silly mistake?

Cheers

 

[Cascadilla]

Have you tried cleaning the sync contact on the hot shoe? A pencil eraser will often work for this--these contacts can sometimes oxidize just enough to prevent the flash from firing.

 

[monopix]

Normally, the hot shoe contact and the pc contact are wired together so there should be no difference which you use. You could get a pc socket to hot shoe adapter and try the wireless trigger on that or get a hot shoe adapter with a pc socket and try that to prove the hot shoe works correctly.

 

[Asahizuiko]

Normally, the hot shoe contact and the pc contact are wired together so there should be no difference which you use. You could get a pc socket to hot shoe adapter and try the wireless trigger on that or get a hot shoe adapter with a pc socket and try that to prove the hot shoe works correctly.

Yeah it's pretty weird isn't it. I will try as you suggest. I think I might have the right adapter in the back of a drawer somewhere...